Support CSUEB students all year with a gift this season

December 5, 2011

By Sarah Stanek

The end of the year is a busy time of year for charitable giving, with donors hoping to share the holiday spirit with their favorite organizations. Cal State East Bay is asking alumni, friends and parents to consider a gift to support the university’s Annual Fund.

Gifts made or postmarked by Dec. 31 are eligible for 2011 tax deductions and can be used within this academic year to benefit students and academic programs.

Kate Shaheed, director of Alumni Relations and the Annual Fund, said that unrestricted gifts have the most impact, but all support is valuable wherever gifts are designated. “Our commitment to keeping a high-quality college experience accessible to as many students as possible has never been more important,” she said.

“This is a challenging time for higher education,” she added, with state support continuing to decline and the CSU system facing a $100 million mid-year cut on top of a $650 million budget reduction for 2011-12.

Year-end donations to the Annual Fund can be unrestricted, Shaheed said, which allows the university to use gifts to meet the most urgent needs, or they can be designated to a college or particular program fund.

Colleges and departments can use private support to update equipment and offer more research and project-based learning opportunities to students. “Many valuable learning experiences and extra services are contingent upon private support,” Shaheed explained. “With help from alumni and friends, we can preserve these opportunities.”

Support for scholarships is always a top priority as well. More than 60 percent of students receive some kind of financial aid. Increased private giving can expand the total amount of need-based and merit-based scholarships the university is able offer. “These gifts are rewarding to make, knowing that they are typically distributed to students in the same calendar year and have an immediate effect,” Shaheed said.

Donors are also encouraged to check if their employers offer matching donations . Last year donors from more than 40 companies were able to increase the impact of their gifts when their employers made additional contributions.

Cal State East Bay's secure online giving site will be available during the university's holiday break Dec. 26 through Jan. 2, 2012. Online gifts will be processed before the close of business on Dec. 31. Checks postmarked prior to Dec. 31 will be recorded for December 2011 to be eligible for tax benefit purposes. All donors will receive a gift receipt by the end of January.

Checks should be made payable to The Cal State East Bay Educational Foundation and mailed to: California State University, East Bay, University Advancement, 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard, Hayward, CA 94542. For more information about giving to CSUEB, contact University Advancement staff at 510.885.2839.

Gifts to Cal State East Bay are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. In accordance with university and Educational Foundation policy, a portion of all gifts is retained for gift administration and to encourage private support of the University.

California State University, East Bay is the San Francisco East Bay Area's high-access public university of choice. CSUEB serves the region with campuses in Hayward and Concord, a professional development center in Oakland, and an innovative online campus. With an enrollment of more than 14,000, the University offers a nationally recognized freshman year experience, award-winning curriculum, personalized instruction, and expert faculty. Students choose from among more than 100 professionally focused fields of study for which the University confers bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as an Ed.D. in education. Named a "Best in the West" college, as well as a Best Business School, by the influential Princeton Review, Cal State East Bay is among the region's foremost producers of teachers, business professionals and entrepreneurs, public administrators, health professionals, literary and performing artists, and science and math graduates.